The Green Mummy | Page 9

regret - for he had been sincerely attached to her in his
absent-minded way - and sent Lucy to a Hampstead boarding school.
After an interview with his late wife's lawyer to see that the income
was safe, he sought for a house in the country, and quickly discovered
Gartley Grange, which no one would take because of its isolation.
Within three months from the burial of Mrs. Braddock, the widower
had removed himself and his collection to Gartley, and had renamed his
new abode the Pyramids. Here be dwelt quietly and enjoyably - from
his dry-as-dust point of view - for ten years, and here Lucy Kendal had
come when her education was completed. The arrival of a marriageable
young lady made no difference in the Professor's habits, and he hailed
her thankfully as the successor to her mother in managing the small
establishment. It is to be feared that Braddock was somewhat selfish in
his views, but the fixed idea of archaeological research made him
egotistical.
The mansion was three-story, flat-roofed, extremely ugly and
unexpectedly comfortable. Built of mellow red brick with dingy white
stone facings, it stood a few yards back from the roadway which ran
from Gartley Fort through the village, and, at the precise point where
the Pyramids was situated, curved abruptly through woodlands to
terminate a mile away, at Jessum, the local station of the Thames
Railway Line. An iron railing, embedded in moldering stone work,
divided the narrow front garden from the road, and on either side of the
door - which could be reached by five shallow steps - grew two small
yew trees, smartly clipped and trimmed into cones of dull green. These
yews possessed some magical significance, which Professor Braddock
would occasionally explain to chance visitors interested in occult
matters; for, amongst other things Egyptian, the archaeologist searched
into the magic of the Sons of Khem, and insisted that there was more
truth than superstition in their enchantments.

Braddock used all the vast rooms of the ground floor to house his
collection of antiquities, which he had acquired through many laborious
years. He dwelt entirely in this museum, as his bedroom adjoined his
study, and he frequently devoured his hurried meals amongst the
brilliantly tinted mummy cases. The embalmed dead populated his
world, and only now and then, when Lucy insisted, did he ascend to the
first floor, which was her particular abode. Here was the drawing-room,
the dining-room and Lucy's boudoir; here also were sundry bedrooms,
furnished and unfurnished, in one of which Miss Kendal slept, while
the others remained vacant for chance visitors, principally from the
scientific world. The third story was devoted to the cook, her husband -
who acted as gardener - and to the house parlor maid, a composite
domestic, who worked from morning until night in keeping the great
house clean. During the day these servants attended to their business in
a comfortable basement, where the cook ruled supreme. At the back of
the mansion stretched a fairly large kitchen garden, to which the cook's
husband devoted his attention. This was the entire domain belonging to
the tenant, as, of course, the Professor did not rent the arable acres and
comfortable farms which had belonged to the dispossessed family.
Everything in the house went smoothly, as Lucy was a methodical
young person, who went by the clock and the almanac. Braddock little
knew how much of his undeniable comfort he owed to her fostering
care; for, prior to her return from school, he had been robbed right and
left by unscrupulous domestics. When his step-daughter arrived he
simply handed over the keys and the housekeeping money - a fixed
sum - and gave her strict instructions not to bother him. Miss Kendal
faithfully observed this injunction, as she enjoyed being undisputed
mistress, and knew that, so long as her step-father had his meals, his
bed, his bath and his clothes, he required nothing save the constant
society of his beloved mummies, of which no one wished to deprive
him. These he dusted and cleansed and rearranged himself. Not even
Lucy dared to invade the museum, and the mere mention of spring
cleaning drove the Professor into displaying frantic rage, in which he
used bad language.
On returning from her walk with Archie, the girl had lured her

step-father into assuming a rusty dress suit, which had done service for
many years, and had coaxed him into a promise to be present at dinner.
Mrs. Jasher, the lively widow of the district, was coming, and
Braddock approved of a woman who looked up to him as the one wise
man in the world. Even science is susceptible to judicious flattery, and
Mrs. Jasher was never backward in putting her admiration into words.
Female gossip declared that the